Pratik

Nerve Endings Firing Away

One way to reduce traffic on I-35 Austin

I’m typing this from work on the last day in the office before the break. It was the fastest I got to work this morning. After traveling for 3 weeks through rush hour downtown Austin traffic, I have a better handle on navigating it. For the last 6 years, I mostly worked from home or went to the office not more than 10 minutes away. Now it takes me 40-45 minutes each way (yeah, I know other cities have it worse.)

But those familiar with Austin traffic know the I-35 stretch that goes through Austin. It is one of the most congested highways in all of Texas and I’ve never seen it not congested. They’ve tried and are still trying to ease the congestion by methods that are least likely to solve the problem (building wider roads will lead to more cars on the road by the time the road is built).

One easy solution would be to ban all 18-wheeler traffic from the stretch that passes through downtown and divert it to the I-130 tollway. If not ban entirely, life would be easier for everyone if those trucks were prevented on the stretch from 6 am - 9 am and 4 pm - 7 pm. I’m sure everyone can live with slightly delayed shipping on stuff you buy from Amazon.


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